Circus 2009 - Hooray!

It was a great day for The Circus!

Circus 2009

Come In! Please Excuse The Rotting Pumpkin In The Livingroom.

I love a good train wreck. I love a good, hot mess. I really do. I love reality shows, confessional shows, intervention shows, all that stuff. Anything showcasing people who are screwy, unbalanced, whatever, I love to watch. Who doesn't? Oh hush, you know you do too.

Ok. So. On Monday night, Terry and I caught the premier episode of the new A&E show Hoarders. And hot diggity dang you guys, these people are freaks!! I've heard of hoarders and seen Animal Planet episodes of people that have houses overflowing with hundreds of cats and there's fur and feces and crazy-eyed cats leaping from counter to counter, but this show actually lets you in on the fruitcakes themselves.

And speaking of fruitcakes y'all. Keep a bucket close by, because the episode we watched had us gagging and dry heaving on the couch. One lady was a food hoarder. She lived alone. She bought food, mostly fresh vegetables and fruit, and just never used them. Or would use a little bit of something then stick it in her fridge in the vegetable drawer and leave it there. For months. And months. And months. And it would decompose and basically melt from it's own rotting juices then she would go and peel off the outside 'bad part' and eat the rest. I will pause while you throw up a little bit in your mouth. Or throw up a lot. Cuz that shit's gross.

She also was a completely filthy person who had all kinds of crud in her house, furniture everywhere, and you should have seen her kitchen. There was not a 1/4 of an inch of empty space on her kitchen counters. It was all old food and rotted bananas or tomatoes. She had 2 year old sour cream in her fridge and when they asked her why she'd kept it, she responded with, "What's it gonna do? Go SOUR?!" B.A.R.F.

She had a clear plastic container of cornmeal or flour or something, and showed how she would only get rid of it after she saw traces of bugs inside. She added that anything that needed refrigeration was good indefinitely, because as long as it didn't "puff up", it was still okay to consume.

The camera crew came across a year old pumpkin that had been decomposing on her hardwood living room floor. They picked it up (while wearing gas masks and gloves) to show it to her, as it was dripping rotted liquid onto the floor, she attempted to pick a few seeds out of it - saying it was such a beautiful pumpkin she couldn't bare to get rid of it without keeping some of its seeds.

Grodie to the max.

I love it.

Mel's Bachelorette / Birthday Celebration

Melissa rolled into town this weekend to celebrate two super exciting events! Her bachelorette partay and her birthday! F-U-N! When Toni and I met her for dinner at Maria Maria, she had quite the entourage in tow!! A lot of the girlies had spent the day with her at the Hilton, and played in the pool until the sun went down and evening came to life! :)

Maria Maria is Carlos Santana's restaurant, and the vibe was definitely interesting. Lots of glowing candles, loud music, pretty cool. We noticed a few tables over from us, Brad Womack (the Bachelor) was having dinner with a bunch of guys - which struck us as odd... where da women at? Never the less, he was there. Whoopdy do.

Renae hooked Mel up with a cake, and it was adorable! Not to mention, delicious!

After din din, we walked over to Six, and hung for a while before Toni and I decided we would call it a night. We were home at a decent hour like good girls. :)

Melissa, you are either smiling or laughing, and you go out of your way to make people feel comfortable and happy! You are such a sweetheart! I've had some really fun times with you girlie, and am glad I was able to make it out for your exciting adventure!

Congratulations! November will be here in NO TIME! Costa Rica betta look out!

(mini) Baldwin Family Reunion

Early last week my mom (quickly) organized a mini family reunion lunch at The Salt Lick and we were amazed that even with the short notice, almost 30 of us made it on Saturday! We were only short 6 or 7 peeps, and you can't beat that! This side of my family stays in touch frequently for the most part, but I was able to see a couple of cousins that I haven't seen in a really long time! We all enjoyed catching up and laughing, the afternoon was perfect!

Kudos on the location and corralling everyone together so fast! Job well done Momly!

I even brought my camera. I know! How odd! :)

The Salt Lick - A Mini Baldwin Family Reunion

Brenda, A Bra and Brooklyn Pie

Wednesday night a bunch of us girls tucked our tiny tots in bed, then met up at Z Tejas for a few celebratory drinks in honor of Brenda's birthday! It was such a fun time, we found out that one of us is pregnant again too!!! Yay! Another baby! That makes 29! We are some baby making fools!!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRENDA!


Brandey and Rachel prove that our crowd can make anybody do anything.


The Z Tejas crew.

After drinks we were still very much in the mood for fun and popped on over to Brooklyn Pie Co. to sit on the back patio and chitty chat.


Brenda channels her 21st birthday and shoots grape cough medicine. We are proud of you for actually finishing it Bren!


It wasn't long before I craved a slice of pizza, I just didn't know it would be enormous. We are pointing at its enormous-ness.



Accidentally turned on the 2-second self timer. Who actually uses that one??


Happy Birthday Brenda! We all had a blast ringing in your big day! It was a great night!

Unsanitary Delight

Mixing egg & what's left of a stick of butter after man handling it into a bowl.

Ava stirs as Grace stirs a phantom bowl. Holding the side and everything.

Ava prepares to add her secret ingredient to the mixture.

Her secret ingredient was successfully added.

Grace prefers the entire palm approach to scrap dough onto the cookie sheet.

Taking turns licking the spatula clean, as Mommy secretly licked the bowl clean.

Lost Pines 2009

3rd Annual Girls Overnight

Last year it was Horseshoe Bay, this year was Lost Pines. Our 3rd Annual Girls Overnight has yet again, been declared a smashing success!

The goal: To relax! ACCOMPLISHED!

There were kids everywhere, but they weren't OUR kids - So we had not one care in the world. Except of course where Beverly was with our next frosty beverage. Bev, honey, you were the shizzle!

All was well until dinner time arrived, and we found ourselves sitting at the table trying in vain to keep our eyes open. Holy crap ladies, what happened to us?! Perhaps it was the whole arriving at 9:30am and bottomless frosty beverages that had us pooped before the night even began. Whatever it was, it was weird! So unlike us usually vivacious ladies! We were, however, able to muster up some after dinner in-room fun with c.r.a.z.y. stories and a bunch-o-laughter.

I think our lesson learned was to play hard after dinner, not before. :)

Toodles until next year beeotches! Holla S.A.!